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Training

Administrative and Business Skills

Working in a Team: Social Loafing

Part 1 

Part 2

Project | 03

Software Used

  • Powtoons

  • Audioscribe

Goal: To teach how to successfully intervene in a team when one member is a social loafer. 

 

Process: The faculty in an online management program at the University of Southern California noticed that there were teamwork problems among students. When I met with the faculty, we decided to introduce best practices in teamwork to the program orientation on Moodle.  A subject matter expert was assigned to work with me on this project. I met with him virtually several times. We decided that he would give me two scripts, one in which social loafing was not confronted and the other in which it was. The students were given questions to think about after watching each scenario. I used Powtoons to add variety to the media in the program.  

Social Loafing

Result: Click on the arrow in the middle of each image below to see each part of Project 05.

Part 1 - Social Loafing: No Intervention

Questions to consider after watching "No Intervention" scenario:

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  1. Does this seem like a realistic scenario?

  2. What is likely to happen at the next group assignment due date?

  3. If you were Sara or Stan, how might you have responded differently to Phil's original message?

Part 2

Part 2 - Social Loafing: Direct Intervention

Questions to consider after watching "Direct Intervention" scenario:

 

  1. What exactly did Sara and Stan do differently from what was done in the second video?

  2. How might discussing group processes by phone instead of text or email influence the results of the direct intervention?

  3. While this video ended with a happy ending, what if it didn't? Then what? What resources do you have to deal with a persistent "social loafer" who doesn't respond to reinforcement of productive normal actual intervention?

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